INJURIES HINDERING AGUERO'S CAREER

INJURIES HINDERING AGUERO'S CAREER

D. Ray Morton, 14th March 2014.

Injured again. On his day, Sergio "Kun" Aguero is one of the best strikers in the world. At age 25, however, his career has been dotted with too many recurring injuries that have, so far, prevented him from reaching his true potential. Breaking into the Independiente first team squad as far back as 2003, Aguero has been tipped for great things. His early rise to prominence was such that many predicted his career trajectory would be similar to that of Argentina's undoubted star man, Lionel Messi. Scoring 23 goals in 54 senior appearances at home, Aguero earned a €23m move to Atletico Madrid in 2006 where he went on to score 74 times in 175 games. He was on the radar of Europe's richest clubs at that stage and in 2011, Manchester City splashed €45m on his services.

Aguero may have been the man who scored their Premier League-winning strike against Queens Park Rangers two seasons ago but one must surely question his on-going fitness struggles at this point. It seems that every few weeks his hamstrings act up again, he plays a few games and then he's out for a few games. The pattern is becoming predictable and frustrating. City have one of the best strikers in the world and potentially one of the best all-round individual players but these constant interruptions are preventing him from realising his full capabilities. We have seen several strikers of this ilk over the years. Strikers with incredible ability but who might have been even greater had their bodies not kept breaking down on them.

One such example was Ronaldo (of Brazil). Winner of the World Cup in 1994 and 2002 and also the all-time highest goalscorer at World Cups with fifteen strikes, Ronaldo's career was extremely well decorated but one feels he could have reached the pantheon of football gods such as Pele and Diego Maradona had injuries not so cruelly stifled his career. When Ronaldo was fit, he was astonishing. He had the same blistering pace Aguero boasts, was two-footed and scored all kinds of goals. He joined Inter Milan from Barcelona in 1997 and had a great first season there winning the Ballon d'Or in the process. In a match against Lecce in November 1999 however, Ronaldo's knee buckled which started a series of injuries that would haunt him for the rest of his career. Despite managing to win a lot more after that point in his development, the stop-start pattern of his injuries prevented him from excelling into one of the truly great modern day footballers, a status that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo now enjoy instead.

Another Brazilian who's suffered a cruel twist of fate when it comes to injuries is Pato. Once at AC Milan, Pato was another young superstar once heralded in the same breath as a young Messi or Aguero. He had shown great promise from an early age and had all the hallmarks of a future world beater in his displays at Internacionale which earned him a move to Italy's fashion capital in 2007. He started well in Milan and appeared as if he could be the real deal but from 2010 to 2013, his playing time was cut short with continuous injuries, often hamstring problems. His decline was such that he was shipped back to Brazil to Corinthians (and now on loan to Sao Paulo), where he's struggling desperately in his unlikely quest to force his way into the Brazilian World Cup squad. Aguero should count his lucky stars that his career hasn't fallen off the rails quite as dramatically but injury after injury suggests that big clubs will eventually cut the chord of support once their patience has been too thoroughly tested.

Michael Owen also knows a thing or two about being laid out on the treatment table. Another sprinter of a striker, Owen's injury problems were such that many people forget he was once awarded the European Player of the Year gong. Bursting onto the scene at World Cup '98 and having shown his great promise at Liverpool by winning a treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2000-01, he earned a massive move to Real Madrid in 2004 which was hampered by hamstring pulls and knee problems. Over this period, he went from being a speed merchant to a six yard-box poacher such was his rapid decline in pace. By the time he joined Newcastle United in 2005, the club felt they could convert him into an attacking midfield playmaker. He wound down his career at Manchester United and Stoke City, though still highly effective at grabbing the odd goal, appearing to be a very different player from the lightning-quick threat he once was.

To Fernando Torres, another Aguero might be able to learn from. Torres took the Premier League by storm when he joined Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in 2007. Aguero was, in fact, Torres' direct replacement. Quick, mobile and unpredictable, the freckled Spaniard looked a very different player back then from the £50m flop we see regularly at Chelsea. His transformation into a moody, over-sized liability might have something to do with the brutality of the English game's strength and conditioning programme. He was part of the same Rafa Benitez Liverpool system that required players to partake in heavy squat exercises on Friday nights before Saturday afternoon kick-offs. Craig Bellamy, another rocket sprinter described it as the period in his career where he felt most unfit. Surely such intense strength-building exercises should belong in pre-season and certainly not the night before games.

What Aguero can learn from this is that he still has time, at only age 25, to figure out how best his body works and not to rush himself back after bouts on the sideline. Last season's Robin van Persie was a very good example of an athlete who really learned to understand his limitations, identified these and had a great season becoming Premier League top scorer and guiding Manchester United to the Premier League title. Tomas Rosicky at Arsenal is another player who has managed to shake off a career of recurring injuries and is now, finally, playing with the kind of regularity he must regret missing out on when he was at his expected peak.

So don't rush back, Kun! Get well when the time is right.